Ink Bath Comics
Ink Bath is a major publisher and multimedia company, known for their string of successful comic book and graphic novel series. The company's original incarnation was founded on April 4th, 1986 by Richard Rogan and Jerry Ackerman. Rick had been a prominent artist, and Jerry an artist-turned-writer, for Odyssey Comics. When Odyssey tanked in mid 1985(due to the company presidents’ decision to invest heavily in the video game industry pre-1983), Rogan and Ackerman joined forces, creating Ink Bath in early 1986. They hired several of their friends from Odyssey, and within the year the team had penned and produced the first several issues of an original story titled The Dark Blood Chronicles, which went on to great success. It developed a cult following and became the company’s flagship original series. Other series produced by Ink Bath included Zaffer the Jet Marshal in 1988, and The Pancake Blues in 1990. In 1992, they acquired the rights to two of Odyssey’s former titles, Dragon M.D. and Rover of Hanover, both of which were given new life and achieved individual success. Original titles The Brethren, Onaka with the Golden Fist, Tales of Bay City, and Moon Goddess Luna Davis all debuted in the third quarter of 1993. By ‘94, Ink Bath was at the fore front of the comics industry, behind only the major companies. In ‘95, popular gangster rapper, Big Loin, signed a deal with Ink Bath to release a series based on a fantasy-altered version of his life. Titled Big Life, it debuted in late ‘95 to limited success. Popular series Jack Starr came in 1996 along with seemingly low-brow titles Devil’s Levels(which spawned a multi-platform video game) and Ninja Squad Delta(which spawned a game, a popular line of toys, an animated series, as well as other merchandise). Richard Rogan retired from the business in late 1997 to care for his ill father, leaving the ship to Jerry. Jerry ran Ink Bath until early 2000, when he handed it over to longtime friend and company VP, Kris Vance. Vance, sometime in 2001, made several poor company investments, all of which fell through. Ink Bath Comics ended its’ original run on February 17th 2002. Most of the series were shelved. Ninja Squad Delta ''was picked up in summer of 2002 by Insane Concepts(a recently-emerged multi-media entertainment company) as was ''The Dark Blood Chronicles(which they ‘ran into the ground’ and ‘defiled’ according to the more hardcore fan base). Jack Starr was purchased by Venture Jeff Productions in 2012, many years after its’ shelving. It re-emerged as a brand new title briefly before the outbreak of World War 3, and again in the mid-2060's. Ink Bath was revived in 2050 by Elle and Ivan Rogan, two of Richard Rogan's grandchildren. It brought back to life several long-dead series, released a plethora of new ones, and continues to enjoy widespread success. In the summer of 2074, Vin Sobel obtained work as a concept artist at Ink Bath's westcoast offices. He would hold the job for little over a year, when his stint with drug addiction started.